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19.9.13

Speak to the Y-O-U-N-G

Speak to the
Y-O-U-N-G

Column originally appeared in The Western Star, Corner Brook, NL Sept 11, 2013. Warning: This column contains lyrics and information that
may be troubling to some and could trigger a highly emotional reaction. Please
read with caution and protection for your emotional health.

I’m not going to rant, because I’m tired of ranting. Ranting does nothing. It
makes me feel better momentarily, like crying when you’re upset. But without
the thing that upsets me changing, neither crying nor ranting will resolve the
issue.

People like me talk and write a lot about issues like this.
The problem is that we are only listening to each other. The people who need to
hear us don’t because they brush us off for “over-reacting” or being “too
feminist” or “too serious.” Trust me, I’ve heard those phrases a lot.

So I’m done ranting. Instead I’m going to present some
facts.

The Canadian news
scene exploded last week with revelations of a chant at St. Mary’s University
Frosh week that promoted rape and underage sex. Well, actually, explosion is an
overstatement. There was a lot of attention, but the tough questions, the ones
that should’ve been asked, weren’t. My first response was “how long has this
been going on? Have their been previous complaints? Was the university
administration aware of this?”

The media’s first response was to treat it like a he
said/she said issue and get feedback from students on what they thought. A big
part of the response was sympathy for the student union that allowed this chant
and the punishment and stigma they were now facing. The excuse? The chant had
been around for ages and they just never thought about it.

I’m not going to rant, I promise.

The lyrics of this offensive chant make it difficult to
believe their story. How anyone could say the words:

Y is for your sister,
O is for oh so tight,
U is for underage,
N is for no consent,
G is for grab that ass

without thinking that maybe what they were saying was
inappropriate is entirely implausible.

They knew it was offensive. That is why they took such joy
in chanting it. The video of the incident at Saint Mary’s University shows that
this was a celebratory, revelling chant.

Later, students at UBC also performed the same chant at
their frosh week activities. Except their last line was “G is for go to jail.”

Let’s examine that shall we?

Nova Scotia premier Darrell Dexter said he couldn’t believe students would
chant something so bad, especially in their province where they are well aware
of these sensitivities.

However, facts and statistics gathered by a local Halifax
women’s centre tell a different story. The Avalon Centre has gathered
Statistics Canada and Department of Justice stats on sexual assault, reporting,
and sentencing in Nova Scotia.

They report that in 2007 (the last year of reliable published numbers):

Nova Scotia had a reported sexual assault
rate of 75 per 100,000 people compared to the national rate of 65 per
100,000 people.

Only 30% of reported sexual
assaults had charges laid. This percentage was the lowest of all the provinces
and territories. The national average was 42%

The acquittal rate for sexual assaults in Nova Scotia was
13%. The rate was only 6% for other violent offences.

The rate of police-reported sexual assault in Halifax
Regional Municipality (HRM) in 2007 was 87 per 100,000. There is an average of
one sexual assault reported every day.

Only 22% of sexual assaults reported in HRM had a charge
laid. In comparison, 49% of other violent offences reported had charges laid
during that same period.

According to Statistics Canada, 88% of rape goes unreported.
So looking at the Nova Scotia statistics under that additional lens, we can see
– generally speaking - that in Halifax alone there are about five rapes a day,
with only 1 of those being reported.

Each week, of the 7 reported cases, only 2
have charges laid. At the end of the month, of the 8 offenders charged, 1 is
acquitted. So after a month of 150 rapes, 7 rapists face possible sentencing.
That’s just in the Halifax area. However, even then, 41% of those convicted (as
compared to 10% of those convicted of other violent crimes) will receive
conditional sentencing only.

So, 150 rapes means 4 rapists go to jail. And that’s just in
Halifax.

While the chant that’s been repeated at UBC for over 20
years, according to student reports, ends in “go to jail,” most rapes don’t end
that way.

Most end with terrified, intimidated, broken women and men
trying to reclaim their lives while their rapists live free, chanting and
having fun. And when their rapists are charged and go to jail, they, like the
student leaders who support their activities through their chants, get sympathy
for the unfair punishment they face.

How a chant can be sung at a university for over 20 years
and the administration not be aware of it, I don’t know. I suspect they were
aware and chose to do nothing, just as Premier Dexter must be aware of the rape
statistics in his province and chooses to not talk about them.

Just as, here at home, the Engineering facility at Memorial
is perfectly aware of a sexually offensive and inappropriate mug created by
their student society to celebrate back-to-school. A mug featuring a
provocative cartoon pose of a woman with the phrase “If she’s thirsty, give her
the D(day)” is a play on the phrase “if she’s thirsty give her the D(dick).”
The students here at Memorial are facing the same kind of “discipline” the
students at Saint Mary’s and UBC face: issue an apology and learn some
sensitivity.

It takes time to reform our justice system and time to
change a culture, but none of it will happen until we change our mindset.
Currently we’re working and living in a rape culture that excuses and even
mocks sexual assault. The only way to change that is to start with our young.
Instead of ranting at each other about how horrible it all is, we need to talk
to our children, calmly and reasonably, to show them how they can change this.

I wish these student’s parents had done that. But they
didn’t. It’s our turn now. How will you keep your sons and daughters from
following in their footsteps?

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